The Revolutionary Path of Sylvie Audouin, Daughter of the Hébertist Revolutionary Mayor and Minister of War Jean-Nicolas Pache, and Wife of the Famous Revolutionary Xavier Audouin
Warning: Contains a disturbing passage regarding self-mutilation. This post is not reliable like the others due to lack of information and unreliable sources. So do not hesitate to correct if you find errors and especially other information
Sylvie Audouin was an Hébertist revolutionary who became involved from a young age. However, to date, I have not found many reliable sources about her, but what is available is fascinating. Like all these women in the shadows of the Revolution, she deserves to be better known. According to Matilde Larrère, this revolutionary woman was fairly well-known (though much less so compared to others) in her time.
Sylvie Audouin, whose full name was Marie Sylvie Pache (some say Silvie), was born on March 4, 1777 (but Pierquin found that in reality this date is March 2, 1777 and the baptismal certificate March 4) . Her parents were Swiss Jean-Nicolas Pache and Marie-Marguerite “Sylvie” Valette, an illegitimate daughter of Charles Eugène de la Croix de Castries, who had briefly served as the Minister of the Navy in 1780. This union was the result of an arranged marriage because Castries held Pache in high regard when they met at the École de Génie in Mézières, where the future revolutionary had developed various talents, including military engineering, a sharp intellect, a deep cultural knowledge, and formed a lasting friendship with Gaspard Monge.
It’s also worth noting that Sylvie’s godmother was the Countess de la Marck, who had raised her mother. Soon after, Sylvie had a little brother named Jean, born in 1779. The family followed Rousseau's educational philosophy, teaching their children to gather herbs, give harp lessons to their daughter, and lead a pastoral life. Sylvie's mother, according to Perquin, was very beautiful and a skilled musician. Through Castries' influence, Pache was appointed as the Controller of the King's Household under Necker, though he later left the post to live in Switzerland. However, tragedy soon struck the family when Pache's wife passed away in 1786, despite all the care she received, a loss from which Pache never truly recovered.
Following their mother’s death, Sylvie and Jean were raised by their father and their paternal grandmother, Jeanne Lallemand. The small family continued to live in Switzerland until 1790 (some say it was Monge who convinced Pache to join the Revolution that year). A legend claims that just before the Federation of 1790, Sylvie got off the stagecoach and threw herself into the arms of Monge’s daughters. In any case, Gaspard Monge and Jean-Nicolas Pache threw themselves into the Revolution wholeheartedly and even led the Société Populaire du Luxembourg.
The Pache family settled on Rue de Tournon. Jean-Marie Roland de la Platière and especially Manon Roland, according to Lenôtre and Adrien See, held Pache in the highest regard, and he became Roland’s secretary. In 1792, Jean-Nicolas Pache was appointed Chief of Staff at the Ministry of the Interior before becoming Minister of War. Sylvie, despite being a teenager, was also involved in revolutionary activities. At the age of 16, she signed the "Adresse au Peuple" (an appeal against King Louis XVI) alongside her father, the revolutionary Marchand , Pauline Léon , and her future husband, Xavier Audouin.
When Pache was Minister of War, he would gather his collaborators around a table chaired by his mother, and Sylvie would join them, sitting with her younger brother. According to Avenel, who quotes a Pache apologist, the names of these collaborators included Meusnier, du Falga, Vergne, Vincent, Hassenfratz, and Carnot-Feulins. One could assume that she used this opportunity to gain further political experience. This is how she met Xavier Audouin. Xavier Audouin was a former priest from Limoges, passionate about the army, the navy, and a staunch Hébertist. A Jacobin and early revolutionary ally of Hébert, he stood out as a delegate from the Saint-Grégoire section of August 10 and was one of those who called for the King’s dethronement. It was here that he met Pache, and they continued on their revolutionary path together. Later, Pache spoke to Sylvie about him. Eventually, Audouin joined the Ministry of War after returning from his mission in Vendée, becoming Secretary General (with a salary of 19,000 livres, according to some sources).
Sylvie married at the age of 16, on January 15, 1793, the same day the deputies of the Convention began judging Louis XVI on the charge of "conspiracy against Liberty and attempts against the safety of the nation." Naturally, there was no religious ceremony for the couple. The witnesses to Xavier Audouin’s marriage were Santerre and Nicolas Maurice, a cavalry captain. For Sylvie Audouin, the witnesses were Jean-Baptiste Meunier, Marshal of the Camp, and Jacques-René Hébert, who had to replace an absent witness at the last minute.
In the meantime, Pache had shifted from being a “Girondin” to a “Montagnard,” and he opposed Roland on several issues. Manon Roland called him "the Tartuffe of the Revolution" and said he was "the most deceitful man possible" (this last term is taken from a letter to Servan, dated December 25, 1792, volume II, page 444 of Madame Roland’s letters), though he surrounded himself with competent people. Having sensed Dumouriez’s betrayal, Pache became one of his greatest enemies before Dumouriez’s ultimate betrayal of the French Revolution. Buzot would attack Sylvie, inventing imaginary sisters for her.
Sylvie was not spared from the political opponents of her father. Dumouriez described her as both ugly and wicked (though according to Adrien See, she was graceful, and Armand Corbeiller, in his book on Charles Sepher, described her as "ravishing"). Buzot made similar claims, inventing imaginary sisters for Sylvie and further slandering her, writing: “The children of Pache, his daughters, ran wild in places where murder and pillage were preached with the greatest impudence, and they were often seen in so-called 'fraternal embraces' warming up disgusting orgies” (like other wives and daughters of revolutionaries, she faced her share of baseless attacks, though in Buzot’s case, it’s likely he was actually targeting others other revolutionary women in reality).
In any case, one might assume that while she was likely disappointed by her father’s loss of his position as Minister of War, she was happy to see him elected Mayor of Paris, where he earned the nickname "Papa Pache," and that her husband became the Assistant Minister of War under Bouchotte. Additionally, this was the time when the Hébertists were quite triumphant, both on the Paris Commune, in the Cordeliers' Club, and in the Ministry of War. However, we all know that during the complex episode of the "faction wars," some Hébertist leaders were sent to the guillotine. Pache, having refused to join the insurrection like Hanriot and Chaumette, was spared (though Chaumette’s fate was not so fortunate), and he enjoyed the protection of Robespierre for a time. But not for long…
Jean-Nicolas Pache, his mother, Xavier and Sylvie Audouin would soon be arrested and imprisoned. Xavier Audouin recounted his arrest in one of his many writings, L'Intérieur des maisons d'arrêt: "Some noise... made by the bearer of orders with his squad woke me from my peaceful slumber; but my wife, hearing the noise of the weapons, was frightened; so I jumped for my pistols, ran to the door, and recognized all the gendarmes filling the first room. It was all the gear of an arrest. I leave it to those who shared my situation to imagine the feelings this spectacle caused me. (...) I threw myself back into bed, holding my wife in my arms: 'Courage, my friend, courage.'" Some unreliable sources have attempted to explain the reasons for this arrest. The first source is Louis de Launay, who relied on a statement from Eugène Eschassériaux, the great-grandson of Monge. It is important to remember that Sylvie Audouin was a fervent Hébertist, and it is clear that she must have been affected by the execution of the Hébertists. Louis de Launay states the following:
"On May 9, 1794, a month after the execution of Danton and Camille Desmoulins, and the day after Lavoisier's execution, Mrs. Ardouin, daughter of Pache, was present, probably with her father [Biography of Eschassériaux]. Her husband had been the General Secretary of the Ministry of War under Pache. She held, like her whole family, very advanced views. That evening, in Monge's salon, she had a very heated argument with Carnot, Prieur de la Côte-d'Or, and other members of the Committees of Public Safety and General Security: those whom Pache called the ‘Septemvirs.’ Guyton de Morveau also attended the meeting. Mrs. Ardouin wanted to justify Hébert and his accomplices, whose arrest had occurred during the night of March 13-14, with their execution on March 22. Pache, who had been designated to play a key role in the Hébertist movement, had indeed appeared at the Convention on March 19, accompanied by a delegation from the General Council of the Commune, to affirm the purity of his intentions and those of the General Council toward the Convention. But everyone knew what such a statement meant and understood that a terrible new phase was unfolding among the victors of the day before, now ready to destroy each other, just as they had sacrificed the Girondins, Hébert, and Danton. The delay in the General Council's statement had proven it to be merely diplomatic, and Mrs. Ardouin, in her agitation, was unwittingly revealing her father’s secret sentiments. What did she exactly say that evening? Did she confess her complicity with the Hébertists? Did she glorify the Commune of Paris at the expense of the Convention? Did she announce the Commune’s imminent triumph over the Assembly, which had been decimated so many times? Whatever the case, the following morning, Pache, his mother, daughter, and son-in-law were arrested by order of the Committees of Public Safety and General Security."
However, there are no sources to confirm this quarrel.
According to Adrien See Aulard’s annotations in his book Public Safety XIII 412, Xavier Audouin explained the reasons for the arrests, saying, “Pache had openly broken with the Committees: he had particularly mistreated Billaud. I had had several clashes with Robespierre, Collot, Vadier. My wife had quarreled with one of the rulers.” It is known from testimonies that Xavier Audouin experienced deep sadness after the execution of the Hébertists, so perhaps his wife did too.
Did Sylvie Audouin have a dispute with a member of the Committee of Public Safety, such as Carnot or Prieur de la Côte-d'Or? And if so, could it have been about the executed Hébertists, whom she must have known very well? There are few clues about this, and even if it were true, I find it hard to believe that a simple dispute could lead to an arrest, as I’ve explained here: https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/762707569912496128/request-for-information-on-the-revolutionary?source=share. Furthermore, there must have been a significant number of votes to authorize an arrest, so it would be difficult to settle scores this way. Moreover, at a time when the members of the Committee of Public Safety were overwhelmed with work, they had other priorities than focusing on minor quarrels. Therefore, there is no need to contribute to further dark legends about the Committee of Public Safety, Carnot, and Prieur de la Côte-d'Or, who, for all their faults, would certainly not have lowered themselves to this level.
As for Xavier Audouin’s claim about Robespierre, it is puzzling because, at the time, Robespierre still publicly considered Pache an ally and was opposed to Pache's arrest . Even if Xavier Audouin had political disagreements with his father-in-law on certain points, Robespierre had not yet broken with them (it appears he did so only on the 8th of Thermidor, when he attacked his adversaries for talking about "restoring Pache to his mayoral functions," as Michel Eude noted here https://www.jstor.org/stable/41924663 ). The most reliable reason for their arrest would be quite different, more reliable and was noted by Michel Eude whose motive I explained in the post I made on Xavier Audouin https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/776762458733002752/the-life-of-the-revolutionary-xavier-audouin-from?source=share Sylvie and Jeanne Lallemand unfortunately only suffered, in my opinion, the fate of certain revolutionary wives and mothers imprisoned for reasons that still escape us, such as Marie-Françoise Goupil, Pétion's wife, Elisabeth le Bon, Elisabeth Le Bas, etc...
In any case, the sources diverge, but Sylvie was separated from her husband, grandmother, and father, imprisoned at the prison Port-Libre, where she was placed in solitary confinement for 100 days, according to Adrien See (while Louis de Launay claims she was held at the Luxembourg). This is where she would demonstrate incredible strength of character. To publicly show her loyalty to her loved ones despite an uncertain future, she would use a heated needle to carve her husband's name into her left breast. According to Aulard, this act earned her a civic crown on the 10th of Floréal, Year IV, from the municipal administration during the spouses' celebration (Aulard, Paris sous le Consulat).
Her grandmother and she were released after one hundred days of imprisonment , but her husband and father were not. Here is an excerpt from Pache's letter on the imprisonment of his daughter and his mother and their release :
Citizens representatives, I, along with my mother, daughter, and son-in-law, have been kept in secret for one hundred days.
On the hundred and first day, citizen Vouland informed me that my mother and daughter had been freed, and my son-in-law and I had been removed from secret confinement.
Deeply moved by this news, I immediately rushed to thank you.
Audouin reportedly wrote the following: “We cried,” wrote Audouin, “without being able to say anything. But these tears didn’t hurt... How much she had changed! Suffering, sorrow, and despair had altered her features. She was no longer herself; when she wrote to me, it was still her; she asked for my forgiveness for being free before me.”
However, Xavier Audouin and Jean-Nicolas Pache's captivity would continue. I’ll give you an excerpt from Xavier Audouin’s letter, in which he mentions his wife and mother-in-law, showing how the women of the family publicly supported the political beliefs of the revolutionaries in their family:
"Citizens, I have been in the prison of Pélagie for five months. I was arrested on the 21st of Floréal with my whole family, without being told the reasons for this measure, which I still ignore. My father-in-law Pache did some good work. I learned my duties from him. If my wife and the octogenarian mother did not share our work, they at least applauded the desire to serve our country."
Nevertheless, another letter from Xavier Audouin, dated the 17th of Vendémiaire, Year III (October 8, 1794), catches my attention. He writes again:
"These men you punished, those who still deserve to be punished, had subjected me, my father, my wife aged 16 and nursing a child, her 14-year-old brother, and her 80-year-old grandmother to the most rigorous and unjust secrecy. The 9th of Thermidor restored my right to communicate with you. I have used this means only once. Because my wife and child had obtained justice, I considered my personal pain to be of little importance."
Yet, Sylvie would not become a mother until 1795, when she gave birth to a boy on November 29, 1795. This is quite strange. In any case, if the detentions of Pache and Audouin lasted, one of the reasons was because the right wing was now in power (with the left weakened by internal struggles) and they had not forgotten Pache, the former Girondin who had become a fervent opponent of theirs. However, it seems that Sylvie did not abandon either her husband or her father. As they were repeatedly transferred from prison, Sylvie allegedly obtained permission to "share bread and bed" with her husband in prison. She became famous in this prison. One day, a representative of the people, Foussedoire, who was held at the Fort du Ham and spoke about his wife's grief, was interrupted by Sylvie, who uncovered her breast to show him the scar, saying, “See, see if a woman doesn’t have as much courage to suffer as you do!” She continued to visit him often.
When their detention still continued, Sylvie wrote a letter dated Chartres, the 10th of Vendémiaire, Year IV:
“Although the course of justice has seemed slow to me, I have had to swallow my grief and patiently wait for the tribunal’s decision regarding my husband. But finally, after four months, after the seals were lifted from his house, after hearing witnesses, after exhausting all the resources of his ministry, the public prosecutor has declared to the Convention that he found nothing against him. This declaration, citizen representative, gives me the right to implore the justice of the Convention. It awaits a report from its Committees to decide on my husband's fate. This report can only be favorable to him, but it is important to speed it up, and if necessary, I implore you to paint me their condition. My husband presents it to you in a pamphlet I am sending you. This portrayal is not exaggerated: to avoid adding to his suffering, I had to hide half of what I endure from him.” She attached her husband's pamphlet, L'Intérieur des maisons d'arrêt .
This ordeal would end on the 4th of Brumaire, Year IV (October 26, 1795). This situation would have lasted so long without real decrees of accusation. Jean, Sylvie’s younger brother, handled the delivery of the decree. Sylvie remained in Paris with her husband, who continued his political activities. Based on her character, we can only assume that she supported her husband’s political career as one of the most important neo-Jacobins under the Directory. She may have even supported her father as well, who, contrary to popular belief, had not completely abandoned politics at that point, even when withdrawn at Thin, as he wrote in favor of the Babouvists when they were put on trial or to justify his positions.
Despite the significant political activities of her husband, she and Xavier made time to visit Pache at his home in Thin, spending a few months each year taking her children with her . They enjoyed simple family moments, sharing meals, playing music, and gardening.
Nevertheless, it is assumed that the Audouin couple experienced new fears following the coup of Brumaire.
Xavier Audouin was part of the list of Jacobins who were supposed to be exiled from French territory. However, this decree was postponed, and Audouin was simply placed under surveillance, later aligning himself with Bonaparte's regime as a defender in the Council of Prizes (others say he remained discreet and did not profit from Bonaparte’s regime). According to Avenel, Audouin was horrified by the many slanders against the former administrations and the patriotic ministers from his time as Secretary of War. Sylvie likely supported him, as she shared Hébertist ideas.
But in 1802, it seems the couple withdrew from political life, much like Jean-Nicolas Pache, who rejected Bonaparte’s offer to work for him. Only Jean Pache, the son, apparently became a baron of the Empire.
Then, with the Restoration, Xavier Audouin, following the Additional Laws of 1816, became a fervent royalist without renouncing his revolutionary past, maintaining an excellent relationship with his father-in-law, unlike Jean Pache, the son, who was ashamed of his father's surname and sometimes avoided visiting him. The family was not troubled despite Pache’s role in Marie-Antoinette's death. Pierquin states that only Xavier Audouin, his children, and Jean Pache (the son) became royalists. Not Sylvie. Others say she did.
In any case, according to some sources, Sylvie managed her father’s property, but it seems she and her husband had financial difficulties on November 1, 1819, to the point that Pache had to give them 20,000 francs. She would not have time to enjoy it. A year after losing her grandmother, Sylvie Audouin died on January 15, 1820. She left behind her father, husband Xavier Audouin, and their four children: Nicolas-Léonard-Xavier, Maurice-Ernest, Alexandrine-Élisa-Sylvie, and Sylvie-Félicie. She was, in a way, fortunate not to witness the death of her daughter Sylvie-Félicie, who died of phthisis a year after her mother.
P.S: I have deliberately been superficial about the lives of Xavier Audouin and Jean-Nicolas Pache. I will write a separate post on each of these complex figures. I can’t help but find it amusing that Carnot and Pache, who couldn’t stand each other, antagonized each other, have so many similarities but are completely divergent. Equally ironic: Xavier Audouin held animosity against Camille Desmoulins (it seems the feeling was mutual), but both had loyal wives, even in the worst trials, publicly supporting their politics—even in prison (Lucile who signs as Camille Desmoulins' wife and Sylvie Audouin who mutilates her left breast to mark her husband's name).
Sources:
Aulard
Michael Bloche and Malik Diallo
Michel Eude
Gallica BNF
Lenôtre
Excerpt found in Charles Sepher: Swiss of Saint-Eustache and General of Division by Armand Le Corbeiller; preface by G. Lenôtre
Pierquin
Adrien See
Caution is needed with the last three sources and Lenôtre. They are not very reliable, especially Adrien See, who relies on the cliché of the villainous dictator Robespierre, although some excerpts are interesting; Pierquin tends to engage in "bashing" and with Lenôtre, I don’t need to explain why his work isn't entirely trustworthy.
